KUALA LUMPUR: SkyWorld chief executive officer Datuk Ng Thien Phing believes that government assistance to reduce costs of construction would be helpful to create more affordable homes for the rakyat.

He mentioned that reduction in terms of land cost, authority charges such as stamp duty, land premium charges, lease extension, authority contributions and development order charges would spur developers to create more affordable housing.

“When the costs are high, developers are finding it difficult to bring down prices and we want to request for the government to reduce these costs.

“It would be difficult to build affordable houses unless the government subsidise land prices because it is a socioeconomic problem which doesn’t only affect developers and if the government were to reduce, developers are able to cap the prices at RM300,000,” he said during the SkyAwani 2 topping off ceremony recently.

He also added that to encourage buyers, especially first-timers, banks should also look into giving more flexibility in terms of loans and lower interest rates.

SkyWorld recently had their topping off ceremony at Sentul to mark the symbolic completion of the structural phase of the building and SkyAwani 2 Residence. The developer targets for early handover in 2019.

SkyAwani 2 has been fully taken up and is in compliance with QLASSIC standards set by the Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB) and is targeted to achieve above 70% ratings.

Recently the company unveiled SkyAwani 3, offering 1,905 affordable homes with interconnecting SkyBridge and SkyGardens. To date, Ng said the project has been fully taken up.

As for upcoming projects this year, the company targets to launch their SkyAwani 4 in Setapak which offers 1,782 units.

Residensi SkyAwani 2 is situated within a 2.78-acre enclosure near the nation’s capital offering 800sq ft units with the layout of three-bedroom and two bathrooms. It also houses 29 condominium-grade facilities such as a gymnasium, swimming pool, basketball court, yoga deck, children’s playground and also a multipurpose hall.